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Salon has an interesting article about Payola and radio. More specifically, about what to do now that Payola's on the way out.
Under pressure from New York's nosy attorney general, who has already posted an impressive track record weeding out corporate fraud in other major industries, the system is finally collapsing -- or at least contracting -- from its own weight. In recent months, chain after chain of radio stations has announced it's cutting official ties with the middlemen or indies, who are now struggling to come to grips with the radically changed landscape around them. "We're not becoming millionaires anymore," says one longtime indie promoter for top 40 radio. "We're just paying our bills. I'm hoping I'll still be in business next year." They shouldn't bother looking to the record company counterparts for any sympathy, though. "Let's face it," says a label source, "the system was a scam."
The bad news for musicians and radio fans, though, is that even in the wake of the indies' demise -- a remarkable industry milestone considering how far back the look-the-other-way practice dates, and how many times labels and artists vowed, unsuccessfully, to do away with the system -- tight radio playlists are unlikely to improve anytime soon. While indie promoters are often seen as dubious, they did have a knack for getting new acts their break on FM radio. That's why some industry insiders worry that station programmers may soon become even less adventurous in choosing which songs get tapped for rotation on FM stations' heavily guarded playlists.
So, following Eliot Spitzer's annoucement, the labels have decided they weren't going to pay anymore. Does this mean that de facto payola is over and done? Probably not. I suspect it will go underground for awhile, and then come back in a few years in another guise.
Posted by Casper at January 7, 2005 12:50 PMCheck out FMC's latest newsletter:
http://www.futureofmusic.org/action/index.cfm
While the elimination of independent promotion arrangements at these radio conglomerates is a step in the right direction towards eliminating payola, FMC must reiterate that the corporations’ decisions to sever these ties does little to protect artists and the public from future forms of payola. To the contrary, radio companies are now partnering directly with labels to create in house promotional activities. FMC is also concerned that other in-kind exchanges may replace independent promotion and that radio stations will continue to select recordings for play lists based not on the merits of the recordings but on what the station “receives” in exchange for playing the song. These in-kind exchanges are more difficult to track by include a range of possibilities including artists playing for free or for a reduced rate at concerts promoted by the radio stations, or playing only at venues owned by the radio station’s parent company in order to receive a coveted spot on the play list. These new partnerships may obscure pay-for-play exchanges and temporarily protect the radio companies from payola allegations, but they do nothing to protect the public or insure artists’ access to the public airwaves.
Posted by: Wendy at January 8, 2005 03:38 PM